Blitzkrieg 3

Development Blog #24

Since the release of the German campaign, we’ve been fully engrossed in developing missions for the USSR. There will be 16 of them in total: 7 main missions and 9 side missions. Players who’ve been following the project’s progress since its inception probably already have a good idea of the kind of missions we’ve got in store for you. In this dev blog, besides a brief introduction of the missions, we’d like to talk about some of the highlights of the Soviet campaign that we find interesting, as well as several aspects planned for the game’s future development.

A word about the Soviet Campaign

We’ve been very meticulous about choosing the most significant events of World War II that we’d like to include in the USSR campaign. With guidance from our historical consultant, Boris Yulin, we came up with the following list of battles:

The Luga Line

The Rzhev–Vyazma Operation

Sevastopol

Stalingrad

The main events of the Battle of Stalingrad will unfold around Pavlov’s House. This residential building became a veritable fortress for Soviet soldiers in 1942; despite being outnumbered, they defended it for 58 days. A small group of soldiers (different sources put the number between 24 and 31) managed to survive mortar fire, artillery shelling, and aerial bombardment. These events have entered the history of the war as an epitome of the Soviet army’s endurance and valour.

The Battle of Kursk

Warsaw. Operation Bagration

Operation Bagration was the largest-scale military operation conducted by the Soviet command in World War II. In the game, your group, supported by heavy armament fire and army troops, must battle through to the west bank of the Vistula and establish contact with the Polish rebels. The primary objective is to find, among several of their groups, the one that has members of the command in it.

The Fall of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin was the largest military offensive in all of humanity’s history. An immense number of soldiers took part in it: based on the size of the German capital at the time, one could put their count at no less than 400 men per house. The city was swarming with infantry and military equipment; ambushes were easy to lay on its narrow streets.This colossal battle simply cannot be omitted. As the commander of the special forces, you’ll be in charge of important assignments on the road to Berlin, aimed at alleviating the toll the offensive is taking. If you successfully complete the mission, soldiers from your detachment who’ve distinguished themselves in battle will be given the honour of raising the flag over the Reichstag.

On Changes to the Game

After a careful analysis of player feedback on the German campaign, we’ve decided to change a few things about the game. We’ll also keep that feedback in mind while working on the USSR missions. We realised that our missions currently restrict the player’s actions to a greater degree than we’d originally intended. We’re planning to:

1) give the player more freedom of action; At the moment, players only have a limited choice of available strategies. That’s something we’d like to fix, giving you options to complete objectives by any means available within a particular mission’s context. To illustrate the specifics of combat, let us consider the situation in Stalingrad:An example of urban warfare, this battle’s decisive features included:- close combat inside buildings;- narrow passages and barricades providing ample opportunities for ambushes.In a situation like this, a comprehensive approach to storming the streets is the key to victory. For instance, the Soviet army was using the "Herringbone" technique. Tanks followed the infantry on opposite sides of the street, eliminating enemies. Knowing of the limited range of the German Faustpatrone, the tanks kept a distance of at least 150 metres from buildings at all times, firing at the enemy from long range. Assault parties then burst into houses and established positions inside. Once consolidated, the infantry threw smoke grenades from the windows so that the main forces could pass by unnoticed. This coordinated effort by tanks and assault squads was instrumental in the successful accomplishment of combat assignments.

2) clearly indicate key clues to efficient mission completion; We heard back from many players who felt the Axis campaign was too hard. After a careful analysis, we’ve concluded that the game currently doesn’t provide clear enough clues to efficient mission completion. We’re taking this factor into account while working on the Soviet campaign, which will be more explicit in pointing to the optimal methods of completing combat assignments.

3) highlight the characteristics of individual battles; For instance, in the battle of Sevastopol, the Germans fielded an enormous amount of weaponry, including 2 self-propelled Karl-Gerät mortars and the unique ultraheavy Dora railway gun. On their approach to the city, the Nazis spent what would normally be two months’ supply of ammunition in a single day. For its part, the Soviet command used coastal artillery for defence. Both sides of the conflict were banking on a particular type of armament, and we want the game to better reflect that.

4) take into account the real-life commanders’ strategies in our mission design.For instance, Admiral Oktyabrsky would often rely on highly mobile contingency corps, such as assault infantry, marines, or medium tanks.

We hope you’ve found today’s Dev Blog interesting!See you on the battlefield!